They usually vote Democrat in local/state elections, and go GOP for national elections. We're firmly "Red", but there have only been 6 republican governors in the past 100 years.For the local stuff, it's less Dem/Rep than it is who your father and grandfather were friends with.

Their two senators at the moment are McConnell and Paul. Even with these low approval numbers, it's not like I have a lot of faith that the state is going to elect someone who isn't a farking loon in 2014 or 2016.

give me doughnuts:GAT_00: In a totally unrelated coincidence, 38.1% of Kentucky voters considered themselves Republican or lean Republican in 2008.

They usually vote Democrat in local/state elections, and go GOP for national elections. We're firmly "Red", but there have only been 6 republican governors in the past 100 years.For the local stuff, it's less Dem/Rep than it is who your father and grandfather were friends with.

They usually vote Democrat in local/state elections, and go GOP for national elections. We're firmly "Red", but there have only been 6 republican governors in the past 100 years.For the local stuff, it's less Dem/Rep than it is who your father and grandfather were friends with.

We're still planted firmly in the 19th century.

You don't say.

"Welcome to Kentucky. It's sunny, the temperature is 46 degrees, and the local time is 1873. Thanks for flying with Southwest."

How does "2/3 of Kentucky voters disapprove of Mitch McConnell" = "Most Kentuckians are stupid"? I mean, he only has 59% approval even among Republicans. A decent challenger has a very good shot at taking him out in 2014.

give me doughnuts:GAT_00: In a totally unrelated coincidence, 38.1% of Kentucky voters considered themselves Republican or lean Republican in 2008.

They usually vote Democrat in local/state elections, and go GOP for national elections. We're firmly "Red", but there have only been 6 republican governors in the past 100 years.For the local stuff, it's less Dem/Rep than it is who your father and grandfather were friends with.

We're still planted firmly in the 19th century.

In my neck of the woods it is who your father and grandfather sold their votes to.

angrymacface:One would hope that he'd get primaried. Unfortunately, if that were to happen, it'd be by someone crazy right-wing. Someone who, incidentally, would have a very good chance of getting elected.

Not if Akin and Mourdoch and Angle and McMahon and O'Donnell are any indicators....

This shows how little people care about non Presidential elections. My wife and I voted in the last Congressional election and the poll workers there said we were the only young people they had seen all day and we got there right before the polls close. I suppose there is not the 24/7 media coverage and it seems less exciting than the presidential election but it's still important damn it

McConnell flushed all credibility during his stunt last week where he ended up filibustering his own bill. Not only was that a grand stunt that went down in massive flames, he showed that he either has no idea what the debt ceiling is actually for, or he was playing to the sub-literate masses within the base that think the debt ceiling is about new spending!

Even most of the Democrats here are fairly staunch Christian social conservatives; they'll rarely turn out for Republicans, but they'll often shrug and stay home unless the incumbent R has been especially terrible (our recent former governor Fletcher, for instance, who managed to piss off everybody).

Add to that is the fact that we're a coal mining state, and the "Obama's regulations are killing our mining jobs" spiel has been especially effective on both sides of the political divide here. (Never mind that cheap natural gas and other market forces are completely savaging the industry as a whole right now, and even complete deregulation wouldn't solve their problems.) When the last thing Joe Bob hears as he gets laid off is "We just had to cut back because them damn regulations are killin' us," that's what he tells his family and neighbors when he goes home. The fact that the industry says the same thing, boom or bust, gets lost in the shuffle.

My ignorant, toothless, inbred, redneck, hillbilly parents had a yard full of "Ditch Mitch" and Obama signs. Throwing their support behind a party that touts political correctness while it detests and disparages them is what makes them stupid. Admirable for thinking they're helping their gay son, but stupid for giving a leg up to the guys who have no qualms about kicking them square in the teeth. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

pointblank79:An attempt to primary him will result in an even bigger wingnut winning the general. He needs to be the GOP nominee against a good Democratic challenger.

Not true. Even in a red state like Kentucky, the bulk of the voters are in Louisville or Lexington, and they are cosmopolitan enough to know that the GOP are history. The only way the GOP can win any national seats is through gerrymandering. A state-wide vote will oust the fringe rights. That's what happened to Akin and Murdock and McMahon and all such wackos. So yes, we want to see McConnell primaried. And his primary challenger would have to be more far right than he is. Any sensible democrat running against that far right looney will win for sure.

wellreadneck:My ignorant, toothless, inbred, redneck, hillbilly parents had a yard full of "Ditch Mitch" and Obama signs. Throwing their support behind a party that touts political correctness while it detests and disparages them is what makes them stupid. Admirable for thinking they're helping their gay son, but stupid for giving a leg up to the guys who have no qualms about kicking them square in the teeth. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

So, they should support McConnell because people who don't vote for him are meanies? I'm sure their blacklung deaths will be far more honorable.

To be fair, I've met lots of smart people since work moved me here. Granted, almost to a man they've all ALSO been from someplace besides Kentucky originally... but there are plenty of smart Kentuckians. The problem is that if they're smart enough, they generally get the hell out of here as soon as they can...

SovietCanuckistan:Hunter S Thompson (May Peace be Upon Him) did a great essay on the Kentucky Derby decades ago with his crazy illustrator. Some of the caricatures he drew were terrifying. Accurate too.

No need to be coy - feel free to call out the legendary Ralph Steadman by name.

dericwater:pointblank79: An attempt to primary him will result in an even bigger wingnut winning the general. He needs to be the GOP nominee against a good Democratic challenger.

Not true. Even in a red state like Kentucky, the bulk of the voters are in Louisville or Lexington, and they are cosmopolitan enough to know that the GOP are history. The only way the GOP can win any national seats is through gerrymandering. A state-wide vote will oust the fringe rights. That's what happened to Akin and Murdock and McMahon and all such wackos. So yes, we want to see McConnell primaried. And his primary challenger would have to be more far right than he is. Any sensible democrat running against that far right looney will win for sure.

Sorry, but those demographics simply aren't true in Kentucky. We're not Nevada, where over 70% of the state is clustered in one region. The districts aren't even that all heavily gerrymandered. The local population distribution is simply much more rural, with all that entails.

As of the 2011 census, the state has a population of 4,369,365. Fayette County (Lexington) has 301,569. Jefferson County (Louisville) has 746,906. (The "persons under 18" percentages, in the low 20's, are similar across the board and control for themselves in terms of comparative voter eligibility.) Those urban-ish areas make up only around a quarter of the voter pool.

Either than, or they may the surviving members of the old Dixiecrats who would never register as a Democrat because that godddamn Republican Abe Lincoln freed the slaves and ruined everything. But they still vote for Republicans even though they call themselves Demmycrats.